LOVING LATELY #5

I'm gonna skip the standard Lucy disclaimer (exams, broken laptop, etc etc) and just carry on like it hasn't been three months since my last post...

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago (I had a great day, thank you very much) so recently I've been flinging money left right and centre at an assortment of different makeup counters and now have a plethora of new products to play with. YAY.

I've had my eye on the Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette for yonks so after dropping some less than subtle hints to my pals it was plopped in my lap on my birthday - THANK YOU LADIES. It's a diddy little thing that just about fits in the palm of my tiny, baby hand with sturdy (and very pretty) tin packaging and a rather satisfying magnetic close. It houses nine soft, pigmented and saucily named eyeshadows in an array of pinks, browns and golds. Not to be over-dramatic or anything but this may be the greatest thing I have ever owned.

Another product I've been eyeing up for a while is the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. Since Nars isn't stocked anywhere near me I spent an hour painstakingly Googling swatches in an attempt to find my shade (Mont Blanc, btw) before parting with thirty of my precious pounds and anxiously awaiting its arrival. It was an expensive and difficult ordeal but oh my god this foundation is incredible. Miraculously, the shade is an exact match, the finish is in that perfect middle ground where it's a little bit glowy, a little bit matte and the coverage can be built up or sheered out depending on how flawless I want to be that day. My only gripe is that after parting with a ridiculous amount of money for a foundation, they want you to pay another £3 for the pump - which obviously I did because I can't afford to waste a drop by pouring it out straight from the bottle.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get my hand on the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion but now I finally have I'm a total convert. It's just a tube of fairly unassuming, skin-coloured goop (I realise I'm not selling it particularly well but hear me out) but it's magical. I put it on before my eyeshadow and the colours are brighter, everything blends easier and it lasts longer. I never wear eyeshadow without it now.

I was very excited to discover the Brighton Boots now stocks NYX so, naturally, I spent hours at the counter giddily sticking my fingers into all the products and left with some new purchases, including the High Definition Blush in Taupe. I'm sure you've probably noticed that contouring is a thing right now which is all fine and dandy for the Kardashians but it's a dangerous world for us pale girls. Most products are far too orange and muddy for my ghost face but this one is perfect. It's a taupey, grey-toned brown that's dark enough for some serious sculpting but doesn't look ridiculous on my pale-ass face.

Finally, I dramatically declared in my last one of these that I'd found my perfect mascara but I think the Maybelline Lash Sensational has one-upped it. It's pretty similar to the Benefit one I talked about last time - separation, length, volume, all that good stuff - except this one is less than half the price. No brainer really.